With regards to Prime Minister Muscat’s meeting with Italian Socialist Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and to their pledge that, together with the Greek Christian Democrat Prime Minister, they are going to press for European solidarity on the irregular migration issue during the Greek and Italian Presidencies this year, Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson, Prof. Arnold Cassola, said, “Prime Ministers Renzi, Muscat and Samaras, please cut it out with your empty promises. You have been harping for years on the need of solidarity and you got nothing; you have threatened to resort to the pushback of migrants and you got nothing.”

He added, “in reality, you have been unable to persuade your fellow socialist and Christian Democatic Prime Ministers to show their solidarity. They have given you the cold shoulder. So please, stop taking for a ride the Maltese people with your empty words on burden sharing. We Greens have persuaded all our European Green colleagues that the Dublin rules must be totally overhauled in order to allow migrants to move on to Europe from Malta.”

“It is now your duty to get a concrete pledge from all your European Socialist and Christian Democaratic colleagues to do likewise. Until then, please, stop uttering the usual platitudes that you have been repeating for years on end,” concluded Prof. Cassola.